Israel government suspends acquisitions of Microsoft software
By Peter Enav, Associated Press
December 30, 2003
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/world/2003-12-30-israel-vs-microsoft_x.htm
JERUSALEM — In an apparent showdown over price, Israel's government
has suspended purchases of Microsoft productivity software and is
encouraging the development of an open source alternative.
A spokeswoman for the Finance Ministry, which oversees government
purchases, said Tuesday that government agencies would use existing
Microsoft Office products for the time being rather than upgrade
to newer versions.
The Israeli government also will encourage the development of
lower-priced alternatives to Microsoft software in an effort to
help expand computer use by the public.
To that end, the Finance Ministry has cooperated with
Sun Microsystems and IBM in designing the Hebrew language
version of OpenOffice software, a freely distributed open-source
alternative to Microsoft Office.
"The move with Microsoft was a purely economic decision," said
the Finance Ministry spokeswoman, speaking on condition of
anonymity. "The Israeli government will not be purchasing new
products from Microsoft, but will implement its contract to
secure existing systems."
"On a policy level, the government is committed to expanding
computer use. We want open source technology to spread, so more
people will be able to afford computers," she said.
The spokeswoman said the government was unhappy with Microsoft's
refusal to sell individual programs from its standard Office
package, which includes an e-mail client, spreadsheet and
word-processing applications. Not all departments require the
entire suite of programs, she said.
Microsoft representatives in Israel did not immediately return
phone calls seeking comment.
The Israeli move comes amid growing public sector interest in
open source, or non-proprietary, software led by the Linux
operating system.
Some federal agencies in France, China and Germany, as well as
the city government of Munich, have opted to use Linux not just
on servers but also on individual workstations. Entire national
governments, including those in Britain, Brazil, Japan,
South Korea, China and Russia, are exploring open source
alternatives to Microsoft.
Governments are a huge software market, accounting for about
10% of global information technology spending, according to
research firm IDC.
Federal, state and local governments in the United States
spent $34 billion last year on huge systems to track everything
from tax collection to fishing licenses.